On Monday, October 9, Catskill Game Farm opened its doors to the public for the last time. Stories about the facility touted the end of an eraâ€”73 years of entertaining generations of children who visited the farm animals and captive wildlife housed at the Greene County facility in New York State. But receiving far less attention is the plight of the more than one thousand animals who faithfully served those generations of families.

Despite offers by animal welfare groups to provide permanent sanctuary or adoptive homes for the animals, most will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on October 18â€”along with the farm equipment, amusement park rides and a garbage truck.

Bidders at the auction will undoubtedly include those in search of exotic inventory for â€œcanned huntâ€

Never make someone a priority in your life when that someone treats you like an option.

I went to this place as a little kid in school "field trips". I'm heartbroken over how these poor animals are going to end up -- I wish I had a place like Tippi Hendron's Shambala because I'd take them all.

Never make someone a priority in your life when that someone treats you like an option.

I would like to think Roland and Kathryn Lindeman are rolling in their graves seeing that their daughter and grandchildren will be auctioning off the animals for a canned hunt.

The Catskill Game Farm has been owned and operated by the Lindemann family for 70 years. Roland Lindemann founded this unique park in 1933. It started with a couple of white-tailed deer, donkeys, and sheep. He and his wife, Kathryn, continued to collect exotic species of animals.

Since 1989 the Catskill Game Farm has been owned and operated by the Lindemannâ€™s daughter, Kathie Schulz, and her children Serena and Christopher.